Active people find adequate hydration essential to achieving and sustaining high performance. To fulfill this need, hikers, bikers, skiers, snowshoers, skaters, and others have used water bottles carried on hip belts, on bike frames, or elsewhere. During these sports and other extreme sports, gripping ski poles, handlebars, etc. and maintaining momentum make it inconvenient to access and use a water bottle. Therefore, hydration bladders with hoses and bite valves have been used. The bladder may be placed within a conventional backpack or within its own specially constructed pack.
If a bladder, hose, and bite valve are used with a larger pack, the bladder (1) may be harmed by objects placed within the pack, (2) may not maintain a proper orientation for delivery of fluid, and/or (3) may have low pressure for poor fluid delivery. Furthermore, inherent advantages of the bladder are not realized when the bladder is simply placed within a larger pack.
If the bladder, hose, and bite valve are used with their own container, the container may be too small to carry extra necessary equipment. Furthermore, placing articles within the bladder container may damage the bladder or interrupt liquid delivery.
Therefore, a need exists for a hydration system integrally combined with a pack. The bladder can provide not only increased ease of hydration, but also pack comfort and stability.